Windows Live Messenger Merging With Skype on April 8

After years of service, Windows Live Messenger is going to be merged into Skype. This makes sense and was largely expected since Skype has much more clout, offers more services and has evolved much faster than Windows Live Messenger did. This was inevitable. Obviously, if you’re just happy with Windows Live Messenger, you may have put this under the rug, but this is coming, so you may want to look at how it’s going to happen. Microsoft already has a timetable: ” The upgrade from Messenger to Skype on Windows desktop will start on April 8*. The process will take a few weeks to complete. We’ll start the upgrades with our English language clients, and finish up with Brazilian Portuguese on April 30 or later.”The migration to Skype means that Live Messenger won’t be supported as an app anymore. Most people ask if they will be able to log into Skype using their Microsoft account. Yes, you can actually do that today, and chances are that Microsoft will enforce a merger/conversion of existing Skype account into Microsoft accounts. In fact, if you want to use Skype for Windows 8, you will be asked for that.

While most people seem OK with the change, are you a die-hard Windows Live Messenger user who does not want to switch? What about “low-tech” folks? Maybe you spend years teaching your parents how to use the webcam with Live Messenger and now you need to do that again – what’s your take? Is this a good thing for you or not?